Wednesday morning, as the sky lit up with a bombardment of lightning bolts and the walls shook with booms of thunder, I clambered out of bed and did a stupid thing:

Turned on the computer.

I wanted to update the newspaper’s website with information I’d received over my phone about Brooks Bridge and the Mid-Bay Bridge being closed due to the historic flooding that was taking place. I felt the information needed to be up now, not after I’d showered and gone to the office.

Silly me.

I was able to get a couple of updates posted before a bolt of lightning struck so close there was no interlude between it and the thunder, and immediately the lights went out. The computer made one of those cat-hairball sounds, and I figured it was toast.

Oh well. It had been a good computer. But it was old and most of its software was outdated, and I’d already begun shopping for a new one.

I decided my best bet would be to get to the office and work from there, as the newspaper is equipped with a generator. But there was no way I was going to work without showering first.

It was dark – VERY dark. And there was no electricity, which meant no hot water. But then I remembered:

Just because the power was off didn’t mean there wasn’t a reservoir of hot water in the tank. So I got a flashlight, stood it on end so that the light spread across the ceiling, and proceeded to take what turned out to be a perfectly enjoyable shower in the dark. In fact, it was a tad better because I couldn’t see just how FAT I’d gotten over the intervening year.

Ah well.

Wednesday was a long day but at least I didn’t smell. And that night, when I turned on the computer, it booted up just fine.